6 Books for Teaching Map Skills

My kids love maps.

You might even say that my kiddos are obsessed with maps.

When my children are passionate about a topic – and especially when they are passionate about the same topic- I love to create unit studies. Unit studies are wonderful for:

• Families with children of multiple ages
• Those who wish to encourage imagination and creativity
• Gifted children who would like to delve deeply into a given topic, rather than just cover the basics
• Families on a budget – all you need is a library card and your imagination
• Families looking for hands-on learning experiences
• Families who want their children to learn cooperatively
• Families looking to make memories while learning

Bottom line: unit studies can be so much fun that children don’t even realize they are learning!

I knew, without a doubt, that my children would love a map-themed unit study.

*Disclosure: I was able to select the books mentioned herein to build activities around at no cost, and I was compensated for my time, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not required to write a positive review. I only agree to share products that I would use with my own family and my family loves these books.

When I was presented with the opportunity to select books from Candlewick Press to design a unit study, I jumped at the chance. I’ve loved Candlewick’s books forever. I frequently feature their educational and beautifully illustrated books in both the {Virtual} Family Book Club at My Little Poppies and also in my The Books that Fill Our Shelves weekly series. As a Candlewick fan, I already knew that they have a wide selection of books that would be perfect for a map skills unit study. The most difficult part of this project was narrowing down my book choices because there were so many amazing books from which to choose.

Do you know what, folks? I’m not gonna lie… I picked some fantastic books for our unit study! Candlewick did not disappoint!

Heaven is… a stack of brand new books, just waiting to be explored!

My children love to tell stories, create, and use their imaginations. My goal for this unit study was to start off on a super-fun and imaginative note, with subject matter familiar to my children, and then gradually move toward factual texts. 

I have listed the titles in the order that we used them, with several activities listed for each book.

• The first three books are super-fun map-themed story books that incorporate familiar fairytales, myths, and story book characters.
• Next, I included an atlas, because I am a huge fan of getting children interested in nonfiction. The atlas is a pop-up book, with brightly colored illustrations and interactive pages, making for an easy transition from fiction to nonfiction.
• Finally, the last two books are an amazing duo. One is a gorgeously illustrated and oversized map book, while the other is a companion book that includes activities to take learning a step further.

I hope you enjoy and share this family-friendly series with your children and homeschoolin’ friends. Please be sure you don’t miss any future posts by taking a second right now to subscribe by e-mail if you haven’t already. I have oodles of plans in the coming months, from freebies to bonuses to sneak peeks. You won’t want to miss out, folks!

6 Fanastically-Fun Books for Teaching Map Skills:

Pirate Treasure Map: A Fairytale Adventure by Colin and Jacqui Hawkins

My children have loved pirates for years now. This book combines a pirate adventures with familiar characters from classic fairytales, including Little Jack Hubbard, Owl and the Pussy Cat, and the Billy Goats Gruff.

Before we dove into this book, we read some of our favorite fairytales. This made it easier for the kids to see the connections in the text and to make predictions.

There is quite a bit of pirate-speak in this little book, so it makes for a very fun, and funny, read aloud.

But what makes this book even more exciting and engaging – and one of the main reasons why I selected it as our first book in this unit study- is the fold out map that is included with the story. As you read, your children will naturally want to follow along on their map.

While they are having fun, they will be learning an important life skill: map reading!

I love to use read alouds in our homeschool. Reading is fun and when you design follow-up activities based on a particular book, children do not realize they are learning!

Want to take learning to the next level? Here are some of the activities we tried after reading Pirate Treasure Map: A Fairytale Adventure:

1. Make Your Own Pirate Map
2. Super Simple Map Activity for Children
3. A Map-Themed Family Movie Night

The Once Upon a Time Map Book: Take a Tour of Six Enchanted Lands by B. G. Hennessy 

I love this book.

Let me say it again, folks: I love this book.

If you are friends with us in real life, this is going to be The Book this year. Every year, I pick one or two books and when we are invited to a birthday party, we give the child The Book. This book is that good.

What’s so great about this book, you wonder? It is so creative! It’s like fairytale-meets-movie-meets-I-Spy-meets-cartographer. It is creative, it is brilliantly illustrated, it is engaging, it is fun.

Your children will journey through their favorite childhood places: Neverland, Wonderland, Oz, among others. They will be completely enthralled by the illustrations and instructions. They will have no idea that they are learning about:

• Map grids and coordinates
• Directionality and compass roses
• Map scale
• Map keys/legends

And, the best part? As soon as they are finished reading the book, they will want to make their own maps. Just you wait and see!

Here are some additional activities for The Once Upon a Time Map Book: 

1. Simple Compass Rose Activity
2. Make Your Own Map and Treasure Hunt
3. Using Field Trips to Practice Map Skills

The Scary Places Map Book: Seven Terrifying Tours by B. G. Hennessy

When I saw that there was another map-themed book by B.G. Hennessy, and that it was spooky, I had to put it on our list. Seuss loves spooky stories and, as expected, he fell in love with this one as soon as he spied it. It is similar to The Once Upon a Time Map Book but it features scary places. This book will take you through the Bermuda Triangle, mythical lands filled with monsters, Transylvania, and Dr. Frankenstein’s lab, just to name a few.

I always know I’ve picked a winner when Leo walks and reads. He just couldn’t put it down, folks!

My little crew hasn’t stopped talking about this book. It has inspired so much conversation and imagination and play, including:

• We have used this book as a story starter and game. One person picks a page and then starts to tell a spooky story about the page and then they pass the book to the next person to continue the story. This is a fantastic, and fun, way to promote early literacy!
• The illustrations in this story are amazing creative writing prompts. Simply open a page and let your ideas flow on paper!
• We created our very own spooky places maps.
• After reading this book, act it out! My little friends had a blast using their imaginations and our dress up bin!
• This book provides countless opportunities for fun learning experiences, especially with Halloween on the horizon!

Here are some additional fun activities for The Scary Places Map Book: 

1. Learn About Map Grids with Battleship
2. Treasure Map Grid Activity
3. Learn about Landforms with Play Dough

My Pop-Up World Atlas by Anita Ganeri and Stephen Waterhouse

I love atlases, but I will be the first to admit that it can be tricky to find an atlas that is enticing to little kids. Atlases are jam-packed with important information, but that information can get lost if the book itself is not engaging for those little hands. I picked My Pop-Up World Atlas for our unit study because I was looking for an atlas that was:

• Colorful
• Engaging
• Interactive

This little atlas is an activity in itself. There are so many pop-ups, so many tabs to pull, so many wheels to turn, so many mini-books to open and read through. This atlas takes your children on an interactive journey where they can’t help but learn oodles!

Watch this quick video of my daughter exploring My Pop-Up World Atlas for the very first time and you’ll see just how engaging this little book is!

If you want to take the learning to the next level, check out these activities for My Pop-Up World Atlas:

1. DIY Traveling Journal
2. Map Vocabulary Flash Cards
3. Homeschooling with Google Earth 

Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski

I love this book, folks. We have borrowed it from the library more times than I can count and I’ve been meaning to add it to our home library forever.

This gorgeously illustrated, over-sized text will keep your children coming back for more. I love to read it with our globe nearby, because I think it helps for young children to see the various locations both on paper and on the globe.

Here are some fun activities that we enjoyed, or plan to enjoy (stay tuned for links to go live!) for Maps:

1. Easy Ways to Learn Geography
2. Games that Teach Map Skills
3. Learn about the World Through Pen Pals

Maps Activity Book by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski

I’ve had my eyes on this book for ages! It is the perfect companion to Maps. There are oodles of activities in this book, from geography activities, to culture, to mazes, to art. This book is sure to keep your little geographers happy and engaged for days.

Here are just a few of the oodles of activities contained in this text:

Coloring the U.S. 

Design your own flag!

Make a map of your neighborhood.

And my favorite- draw some GIANT ROBOTS.

Clearly, my kids loved this one in particular!

We plan to laminate several of these finished products so that we can then use them as placemats and keep learning!

With a book like Maps Activity Book, you don’t need additional activities, however, I’m including a couple of fun clips with which to end this post. Have a look because I’m sure your kids will love these!

1. Click here to watch a music PBS Learning Media video about the 50 states that my kids are in love with.
2. And click here to watch an old School House Rock classic. And stay tuned for a very green post we’re working on over here, folks!

Now, it’s your turn. Do your children love maps? Do you love unit studies? What fantastic geography books do you have in your collection? Share here!

Do you love Candlewick Press, too? Be sure to follow them on Facebook, G+, YouTube, Pinterest, Scribd, and Zazzle.

Follow Cait Fitz @ My Little Poppies’s board Geography on Pinterest.

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